Abstract
Two- to four-week stratification of red alder seeds slightly increased the speed of germination but did not improve total germination under alternating warm temperatures (30°C/20°C), yet significantly improved speed and total germination under cool temperatures (15°C/5°C) that simulated early spring outdoor nursery bed conditions. Only seeds that received four-week stratification achieved complete germination at the cooler temperatures. Strong seed source variation in response to seed treatments was observed at the cool regime. The Yacolt source germinated well regardless of seed treatments, even without stratification, while five other sources needed two to four weeks of stratification to achieve above 50% germination. Possible reasons for this variation are discussed.
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Tanaka, Y., Brotherton, P.J., Dobkowski, A. et al. Germination of stratified and non-stratified seeds of red alder at two germination temperatures. New Forest 5, 67–75 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029299
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00029299